ICANN: The Counterparty That Writes the RulesThin moat
VeriSign (VRSN) — moat facet
About $42 million a year flows from the regulated to the regulator, fixed in the agreement the regulator will one day review.
VeriSign pays its regulator a fee for every name it registers, and the arithmetic is worth doing.
Under the .com Registry Agreement, VeriSign remits $0.2575 to ICANN quarterly for each annual .com registration; .name carries $0.25 and .net a separate fee.1 With roughly 163 million .com names in the base, that is on the order of $42 million a year flowing from the largest registry operator to the body that decides whether it remains the largest registry operator.
This is not corruption and nobody has alleged it is. ICANN is a multistakeholder non-profit funded by exactly this mechanism across every registry and registrar, and the fee is fixed in a public agreement rather than negotiated. But the structure is worth naming: the regulator's revenue rises with the volume of the thing it regulates, and the single largest contributor is the incumbent whose contract it periodically reviews.
The relationship runs both ways in obligations. ICANN reviews new registry services before VeriSign may launch them, sets consensus policies VeriSign must implement, and holds the right to terminate or refuse renewal in prescribed circumstances. VeriSign, for its part, performs the Root Zone Maintainer function for ICANN — the technical custodianship of the file at the top of the DNS — and does so essentially for nothing.2
The 2026 gTLD round is where this gets interesting. More than 1,600 applications were filed at $227,000 each, which is a large one-time addition to ICANN's resources and a large expansion of the registry field VeriSign's own agreements are benchmarked against.3
The ICANN fee is fixed in the agreement at $0.2575 per .com registration and rises only with the number of names. The obligations run both ways and neither side's leverage has moved.
Remitted quarterly under the .com Registry Agreement, with .name at $0.25 and .net on a separate basis. Money flows from the largest registry operator to the body that decides whether it remains the largest registry operator, in a structure where the regulator’s revenue rises with the volume of the thing it regulates. The fee is fixed in a public agreement rather than negotiated.
- ReportedVeriSign remits $0.2575 to ICANN quarterly for each annual .com registration and $0.25 for each .name registration, with a separate fee for .net; ICANN reviews new Registry Services before launch, sets consensus policies VeriSign must implement, and may terminate or refuse renewal in prescribed circumstances.VeriSign, Inc., Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended 31 December 2025 (SEC, CIK 1014473) — Item 1, Business. VeriSign operates the .com and .net registries under registry agreements with ICANN, and .com additionally under a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce (most recently amended by Amendment 35 on 26 October 2018, automatically renewed on the same terms on 30 November 2024 for a successive six-year term, renewing again on 30 November 2030 unless the DOC gives notice). The .com Registry Agreement runs a six-year term that must be renewed or extended by 30 November 2030 and contains a presumptive right of renewal, with ICANN able to terminate or refuse in certain prescribed circumstances; it permits an increase to the Maximum Price of up to 7% over the previous year in each of the final four years of each six-year period, the current period having begun on 26 October 2024. The .net Registry Agreement was renewed on 29 June 2023, runs to 1 July 2029 and permits increases of up to 10% each year. VeriSign remits $0.2575 to ICANN quarterly for each annual .com registration and $0.25 for each .name registration. It also operates .cc under an agreement with the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, operates .name and internationalised gTLDs, provides back-end services for .edu, performs the Root Zone Maintainer function for ICANN and operates two of the thirteen global internet root servers. Retail pricing is established by registrars; VeriSign must provide ICANN-accredited registrars with non-discriminatory access, faces marketing and bundling limits, must submit new Registry Services for ICANN review, and is subject to vertical-integration restrictions that apply solely to .com — obligations it states do not apply to ccTLDs and other gTLDs and may create a competitive disadvantage. Named registry competitors include CentralNic, China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), DENIC eG, GoDaddy, Google, Identity Digital, Nominet, Public Interest Registry, Radix and .xyz. Employee headcount 928 (256 cost of revenues, 240 research and development, 432 selling, general and administrative). — FY2025 · publ. 2026-02-05 · source ↗
- ReportedVeriSign performs the Root Zone Maintainer function for ICANN, which is not disclosed as a revenue line.VeriSign, Inc., Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended 31 December 2025 (SEC, CIK 1014473) — Item 1, Business. VeriSign operates the .com and .net registries under registry agreements with ICANN, and .com additionally under a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce (most recently amended by Amendment 35 on 26 October 2018, automatically renewed on the same terms on 30 November 2024 for a successive six-year term, renewing again on 30 November 2030 unless the DOC gives notice). The .com Registry Agreement runs a six-year term that must be renewed or extended by 30 November 2030 and contains a presumptive right of renewal, with ICANN able to terminate or refuse in certain prescribed circumstances; it permits an increase to the Maximum Price of up to 7% over the previous year in each of the final four years of each six-year period, the current period having begun on 26 October 2024. The .net Registry Agreement was renewed on 29 June 2023, runs to 1 July 2029 and permits increases of up to 10% each year. VeriSign remits $0.2575 to ICANN quarterly for each annual .com registration and $0.25 for each .name registration. It also operates .cc under an agreement with the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, operates .name and internationalised gTLDs, provides back-end services for .edu, performs the Root Zone Maintainer function for ICANN and operates two of the thirteen global internet root servers. Retail pricing is established by registrars; VeriSign must provide ICANN-accredited registrars with non-discriminatory access, faces marketing and bundling limits, must submit new Registry Services for ICANN review, and is subject to vertical-integration restrictions that apply solely to .com — obligations it states do not apply to ccTLDs and other gTLDs and may create a competitive disadvantage. Named registry competitors include CentralNic, China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), DENIC eG, GoDaddy, Google, Identity Digital, Nominet, Public Interest Registry, Radix and .xyz. Employee headcount 928 (256 cost of revenues, 240 research and development, 432 selling, general and administrative). — FY2025 · publ. 2026-02-05 · source ↗
- ReportedICANN's 2026 round charged an evaluation fee of USD 227,000 per application, and more than 1,600 applications were filed.ICANN — the New gTLD Program 2026 Round application window opened on 30 April 2026 at an evaluation fee of USD 227,000 per application, the first round since 2012, accepting applications in 27 scripts for internationalised domain names. — 2026 · publ. 2026-04-30 · source ↗